Chicago Bulls: Cristiano Felicio starting to regain footing after slow start

By James D. Tillman III | Apr 9, 2018

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Chicago Bulls center Cristiano Felicio has turned things around following a poor showing during the first half of the season.

The Chicago Bulls re-signed Cristiano Felicio to a multi-year deal during the offseason on the heels of a 2016-17 campaign in which he posted averages of 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest.

The primary reason for the deal was the fact that Felicio played effectively in regards to rolling to the rim, he was a positive presence in the locker room and the Bulls believed he would continue to improve as he became more comfortable at the NBA level.

During the early part of the season, though, that was not the case. Not only did he look lost within the offense, Felicio had become a liability on defense as well. Despite the falling out between Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic that resulted in the two forwards missing a total of 31 games, Felicio’s minutes continued to dwindle.

In fact, during the Bulls’ first 58 games going into the All-Star break, Felicio racked up 26 DNP-CDs. Needless to say, this was not what the two sides were expecting when they agreed upon the four-year deal that came with a $32 million price tag.

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Bearing that in mind, it appeared the Bulls had committed a huge blunder in their evaluation of the third-year forward. Fortunately, when the front office handed down the mandate of giving some of the younger players more playing time going into the second half of the season, Felicio was provided with another opportunity to prove his worth as Robin Lopez was relegated to a reduced role.

To be honest, based upon what took place during the first half of the season, it would have been reasonable to presume that Felicio would continue to be the forgotten man in the rotation considering that his contributions had been minimal at best.

However, Felicio has bounced back quite nicely after a slow start to the season. Since the break, Felicio is averaging 7.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on 59 percent shooting from the field. Not only that, he reached the double-digit plateau in five consecutive games during the month of March.

This includes a 17-point, six-rebound outing in the Bulls’ 110-92 loss to the New York Knicks on March 19.

Additionally, over the last five outings, Felicio is averaging 8.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. What has also been a welcome surprise is how well he has performed as a starter compared with coming off the bench.

In 14 appearances in the starting lineup, his averages include 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per contest. Conversely, in 39 games with the second unit, the numbers dip to 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per outing.

So what was the reason behind the drastic drop-off from the end of the last season through the first of the current season? Felicio readily admits the desire to live up to the contract played a role from a mental perspective.

"“At some point, I let the contract get in my head a little bit,” Felicio told the Chicago Tribune. “I felt I had to prove myself more than I did last year. And I think at some point that frustrated me a little bit because I wasn’t playing as well as I did last year. And then I started not getting any minutes. And that frustrated me even more. I knew I had to get out of that funk. I talked to the coaches and they helped me.”"

Thanks to the coaching staff, Felicio is playing with more confidence and his stock is definitely trending upward as the Bulls prepare for their last two games of the 2017-18 campaign.

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The big question is: Can Felicio continue to build off his recent success or will Bulls fans see more of the same next season?

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